Recipe Trial: Mini Meatloaf Wrapped in Bacon

So I tried this recipe last night, because my original plan of using my ground meat in a sauce for low-carb pasta (Dreamfields is amazing) was foiled by my use of tomato puree in....something else that I forget, but which was probably not very good.

I had to make a few changes, so don't let this be a complete review of this recipe for ya! I had a pound of ground chuck and a pound of ground pork, so that is what I used. I substituted the last of my almond meal (drat, now I have to go to the store again!) for the breadcrumbs. I don't think that there was quiiiiite a cup of it. I used eggs, which is in the recipe but the author does not use. I used a scant cup of the optional cheese. And I made my own ketchup out of the bit of tomato puree in my fridge, apple cider vinegar, salt, and cloves.

It proved to be relatively easy to make, although having someone else there to wrap the bacon around your squishy ball of meat mixture is extremely helpful. Unlike the author's, my meatloaf was greasy--I had to wipe the top of my muffin tin with paper towel before I grabbed it, hoping to save my oven mitts. Luckily, there was no grease fire, thanks to my poor pizza stone, which lives in the oven. I sense a gruelling scrub session in my future.

The meat was moist, cooked through, and nicely flavored, although not very firm. We are pretty happy to eat our little meat-muffins (you should have seen my husband's look of disbelief when he saw them), but the Best Beloved votes for just beef next time. I may also try to make some low-carb breadcrumbs, in hopes that they will firm this up. This recipe intrigues me and I wish to know more. I may also put them on a rack in a roasting pan, and see if I can cook more of the grease out of them. When I finish redacting this recipe for low-carb deliciousness, I will post it.